Sunday, October 01, 2006

For about five years, I did a weekly radio show on a great community station, WMPG in Portland, Maine. One of my underwriters was The General Store for Pets in Falmouth, Maine. The weekly reading of their credit inspired me to play what became known as The Animal Song of the Week. These songs and others appear here.

From about 1969 to 1979, there was a phenomenon called Progressive Rock Radio. The psychedelic era spawned FM stations where disc jockeys were free to play just about whatever they wanted. Until then, few people listened to FM, so station owners weren't really concerned with the content. DJ's enjoyed stringing together sets of songs that were thematically or musically related. The lists offered here are inspired by, but a departure from, this era. So what happened to all that creativity? Progressive rock became mainstream, people flocked to FM, and money took over. Hey, it's the American Way! I attempt to list the original artist for each song, and any good cover artists as well. Sometimes, I don't know who did the original. If you do, or want to suggest additions to the lists, please leave a comment.